DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University volleyball will play for the 2019 USA South Conference Tournament championship on Saturday. The Cougars knocked off Huntingdon College 3-1 in the semifinals on Friday to advance.

Averett (19-15), the top seed in the USA South's East Division, put away West No. 2 seed Huntingdon (23-15) in four games to set up Saturday's showdown against West No. 1 seed Maryville College at 3 p.m. in the Grant Center.
 
Against Huntingdon, Averett held off the Hawks in extra points to take the first set 32-30. The Cougars trailed for a bulk of the set before a five-point swing game them a 23-31 advantage. Both teams had a chance for set point multiple times. Down 30-29, Averett tied it on sophomore Zamyiah Mangum's kill, took the lead on senior Madison Dadez's kill and then sealed it thanks to a Huntingdon attack error.

Despite trailing 4-2 early, Averett dominated the Hawks in Set 2. The Cougars led 12-7, forcing Huntingdon to use its second timeout. Averett eventually pulled away to a 25-17 win in that frame.

Huntingdon didn't go away quietly, however. The Hawks quickly rolled out to a 4-0 advantage that turned into a 14-7 lead. Still, Averett fought back to tie it as late as 17-17. Yet, Huntingdon squeaked out a 25-23 win to get back within 2-1 overall in the match.

The two teams battled closely in a tight fourth set. With Averett down 17-16, the Cougars finished off the Hawks by winning nine of the final 11 points to clinch the match with a 25-19 win. Freshman Lauren Montren, the USA South Rookie of the Year, had five kills during that span, including the final two.

Montren finished with 19 kills while hitting .370. She had a double-double with 17 digs. Freshman Morgan Barnes also had a strong performance, finishing with 12 kills and a .524 hitting percentage. Sophomore Sarah Shropshire added nine kills, while senior Madison Dadez and junior McKenzie Miller each had eight kills. Miller nearly had a triple-double after totaling 48 assists and 13 digs. Mangum and junior Myka Patterson each matched Montren for the team-lead with 17 digs. Freshman Meg Hopkins also had double-digit digs with 12.
USA South Player of the Year Amy Tyma had a match-high 23 kills to go with 17 digs to lead Huntingdon.

The win for Averett puts the Cougars in the USA South Tournament championship match for the third time in four seasons, as well as the 14th time in Danny Miller's 25 seasons as head coach. Averett will need to go through Maryville to win the championship this season. The Scots topped East No. 2 seed Meredith College 3-1 earlier in the evening on Friday.

Averett and Maryville met once this season in a non-conference matchup in Danville on Sept. 21. The Scots won that meeting 3-0. Yet, that was an Averett team that started the season 3-9. Since that day when the Cougars last lost to the Scots, Averett has gone 16-6 overall.

Saturday's championship will begin at 3 p.m. at Averett's Grant Center. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children, students and senior citizens. All Averett students, faculty and staff receive free admission with ID, courtesy of Averett.